Shinobi Tools
by desolate butterfly
Summary: [A premassacre ItachiSasuke story] Itachi buys a young Sasuke his first set of shuriken.


Title: Shinobi Tools  
Author: desolate butterfly  
Genre: gen, drabble  
Pairing: hints of ItaSasu  
Rating: PG  
Summary: Itachi buys Sasuke his own set of shuriken.

--

Itachi notices that Sasuke is discreetly trying to follow him about two seconds into the journey.

Since he isn't going anywhere particularly important, he lets his younger brother tail him inexpertly a few more blocks before he stops and calls Sasuke's name.

A frowning face pokes indignantly out from behind the tree where he's concealed himself and Itachi beckons the scowling boy closer.

"Why are you following me?" he asks.

Sasuke shuffles his feet and evades the question by asking one of his own. An admirable technique of manipulation.

"Are you going to the market?"

"Yes."

"Can I come with you?" He's giving him that hopeful, adoring look again. Itachi is tempted to tell Sasuke to go back home, but then he remembers that his father is having associates over and will likely not want the six year old underfoot at present.

Without a word, Itachi turns and starts walking again. After a few seconds, the pad of Sasuke's footsteps are heard once more behind him.

They walk in silence down the street. When they enter the main square, Itachi feels the eyes of the villagers focus on their progress. He also feels Sasuke shift a bit closer and slows his step a bit. When Sasuke's fingers twist in the fabric of his shirt, he stops entirely and turns around.

"We're going in here," Itachi says, ignoring the embarrassed flush on Sasuke's cheeks and pointing to the small shop. Sasuke nods solemnly and follows close on Itachi's heels.

As they enter the shop, a stooped old man hurries forward, bowing even lower when he reaches the pair.

"Uchiha-sama," the man rasps, "I'm so pleased you've come here again. Can I help you with anything today?"

"Shuriken," Itachi says, watching Sasuke pad around the room to press his hands against the glass cabinets displaying kunai, short swords, and slim stiletto blades disguised as fashionable hairpieces of jade and other precious stones. "The starter set."

There is a brief look of confusion on the shopkeeper's face, which is soon erased as Sasuke moves—wide-eyed—to the counter where all manner of bladed weapons and sharp twisted steel lay shining on pillows of silk under glass. Sasuke's fingers barely reach the top of the counter, but he stands on tip-toe anyway, trying to get a better look at the shinobi treasures inside.

The squeaking sound he makes when Itachi lifts him by the hips to see over the counter is almost worth the shopkeeper's amused clucking.

"Nii-san!" the boy whines in mortification, squirming a bit in Itachi's grasp.

He holds Sasuke firmly and settles him against his shoulder. "You wanted to see, right?" he said.

"Yes but…"

Itachi's hold tightens and his hands brush against Sasuke's squirming bare legs, catching on small bony knees.

"Until you grow a bit more, this will have to do," he finishes, and Sasuke huffs a sigh of exasperation and leans back against Itachi's shoulder.

There is a moment of silence while they look idly through the glass before Sasuke finds something that interests him.

"What's that, nii-san?" he asks, pointing towards one of the more elaborately hilted short blades.

"A kubikiri-tanto. You should be learning about them in class soon, I should think," Itachi replies, eyeing the short curved blade with its thick bronze and black wood hilt and the intricate pattern of falling leaves cut into the side of the shining metal.

Too decorative, Itachi thinks. The weapon is used to cut through neck and bone: quick, crude, and brutal. Blood should be its only ornamentation.

Itachi hates things that seek to mask their true nature with decoration.

"Kubikiri-tanto," Sasuke parrots back, saying the syllables slowly—as if tasting them. His brow is wrinkled in a frown of concentration. "What's it for?"

Before Itachi can tell Sasuke that the weapon is used for decapitation, the shopkeeper bustles back into the room, placing two leather braces of shuriken on the counter.

"These are our best quality metal-works," the man boasts, loosening the ties on the one of the braces and letting it unfold. "Simple, yet very sturdy. Guaranteed not to bend or shatter upon impact."

Itachi slides a sharp-edged star out of the brace and weighs it in his palm.

"It is acceptable," he says. "We will take it."

Itachi places Sasuke carefully back on the ground and pays the shopkeeper. Then he gathers the two braces and crouches down to tie them securely onto Sasuke's thighs, the leather straps pulled tight to buckle onto such small limbs.

Sasuke's eyes widen. "These are for me?" he whispers, surprise making his fingers tremble.

Itachi nods absently.

"It's time you had a set that is your own, not one of my old sets," he says firmly, and ends up enduring a fierce embrace as Sasuke latches on to his neck. When Itachi breathes in, all he smells is Sasuke and soap.

Sasuke regains his composure a moment later, and pulls back, cheeks flushed again: although this time there's excitement as well as embarrassment colouring the blush. Itachi stands once more and exits the shop, Sasuke following, but a little more slowly this time as he is engrossed in the movement of his legs with the glossy black leather encircling them.

Sasuke's fingers twitch in a way that suggests that he's barely restraining himself from sliding a shuriken out of its holder and tossing it at the nearest tree.

"Will you come practice throwing them with me now, nii-san?" he pleads as soon as they are out of the main square.

Itachi looks at his little brother's eager eyes and smiles. He beckons Sasuke closer and almost shakes his head in amusement when the boy approaches. Instead he puts two fingers up and taps them firmly against Sasuke's forehead.

"Another time Sasuke," he says, satisfied with the small red dot marring Sasuke's pale skin.

Immediately, the boy begins to pout. When it becomes clear that he won't get his way, he wanders off towards the training fields. Itachi watches him go with a neutral expression on his face.

Later that evening, Sasuke will enter the house with various cuts on his hands, where the edges of the shuriken have bit into his fingers on throws that went awry. His mother will clean and bandage every single one of these cuts while Itachi watches and wipes the blood from Sasuke's new weapons.

--

fin

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End file.
